Lowman is a small

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

rural

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located in Boise County,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. It is nestled along the north bank of the South Fork of the

Payette River The Payette River () is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River. Its headwaters originate ...

in the central part of the state, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42.

History

The community was named for a

homesteader Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres * Homestead principle, a legal concept ...

, Nathaniel Winfield Lowman, from

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, who settled there in 1907. Lowman is notable for having a

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

, one of only a couple hundred still in use in the United States. Lowman Schoolhouse and Yard

A devastating

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

ravaged the area around Lowman in 1989; it destroyed over and 26 structures, but without injuries or fatalities.

Geography

from

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

on State Highway 21, the "Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway," Lowman is at the junction with the "Banks-Lowman Highway"; now designated Highway 2512A. It is the "Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway," which heads west and descends nearly with the whitewater of the South Fork to its confluence with the North Fork at

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

, the junction with State Highway 55, the "Payette River Scenic Byway." The "Highway to Heaven" trail, stretching more than from Idaho's capital of Boise, is the only mountain passage in the West that begins from a major city. The trail winds from 8th Street in Boise and climbs the

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in sou ...

, past the

Lucky Peak Dam Lucky Peak Dam is a rolled earth and gravel fill embankment dam in the western United States, located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho. In Ada County east of Boise, it is directly downstream of Arrowrock Dam, a concrete arch dam com ...

. Sagebrush gives way to gentle pine slopes leading to historic

Idaho City Idaho City is a city in and the county seat of Boise County, Idaho, Boise County, Idaho, United States, located about northeast of Boise, Idaho, Boise. The population was 485 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 458 in 2000. ...

, then over Mores Creek Summit at . The road descends over then climbs to Beaver Creek Summit () and switches back down to Lowman. The route then climbs with the South Fork of the

up and over Banner Summit at to

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, where it meets State Highway 75, just northeast of the Sawtooths. Lowman is in a geothermally active region; natural

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

s surface in the middle of the community as well as in many other places in the surrounding mountains. Lowman has an area of ; is land, and is water

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Lowman has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Lowman, Idaho
/ref>

Notable residents

Gordon Bess Gordon C. Bess (January 12, 1929 – November 24, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Redeye (comics), Redeye''. Born in Richfield, Utah, Bess grew up attending schools in Nevada, Oregon and Utah, finishing high sch ...

, cartoonist of ''

Redeye Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to: Related to the eye * Red-eye effect, in photographs * Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury * Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism * Red eyeshine i ...

'' * Robin Fontes returned to Idaho after a military career, retired a Major General

Transportation

- SH-21 - to

and

(south) and

(north)

References

External links

Roadside historical marker in Lowman
{{authority control Census-designated places in Boise County, Idaho Census-designated places in Idaho